This brick building on Melton Street is intrinsically associated with the RC Parish of Batley St. Mary of the Angels. Over the decades it has been the venue for countless wedding receptions, baptism celebrations, and funeral teas. The backdrop for theatrical productions. The location of sales of work, fairs and fundraisers. A social hub, hosting dances, quizzes, youth groups, and torchlight procession suppers. I even seem to vaguely recall a brief period walking across for school dinners there in the early 1970s, though I am wondering if that’s a false memory?
Now known as St Mary’s Social Club and Parochial Hall, for the majority of parishioners alive today the ‘Proke’ has always been here. In this post I am writing about its origins.
First a little general background about the building of parochial halls.
Parishes saw the clear advantages of having a dedicated social space with the flexibility to host the multiplicity of parish groups, organisations and socials. The doubling-up alternative, for example, using a school hall on an ad-hoc basis, did have draw-backs. These included limited availability, and the additional time and volunteers needed to arrange seating for events and then to put everything back in readiness for the school day. Having a parochial hall was also a mark of status. It was a visible sign that a parish was thriving.
But the underlying reasons behind the building of parochial halls was far more nuanced than this.
One of the key drivers behind their evolution was they provided an alternative social and leisure venue to the commercially-operated public house. Many religious organisations in the 19th and early 20th century, including the Catholic Church, associated public houses – and associated alcohol consumption – with multiple social ills. From drunkenness, immorality, domestic neglect and abuse, to poverty with money being spent on drink rather than the family. Perhaps a further consideration was the impact pub opening hours had on church attendance, and ultimately church finances. Anything to break that cycle was welcome.
I have covered some of these issues previously, as they were behind a particularly acrimonious, and public, early 20th century clash between the St. Mary’s priests and the Irish National Club. In fact in the midst of this the priests expressed an interest in taking over the running of one of the clubs for a parish organisation. Click here for this piece. Whilst things had calmed down since then, the tension behind drinking and its effects was still in the background.
A church-owned parochial hall was seen as a far more morally wholesome venue for parishioners to spend their leisure time in. Churches were keen to promote secular club activities, youth and other groups, and dancing, so having a parochial hall was key to hosting them. Because parochial halls were parish-run, they also provided a degree of monitoring and control of parishioners’ activities. They also fostered and strengthened a sense of community. Furthermore, any profits would stay within, and benefit, the parish, rather than lining the pockets of an outside business.
As the 1930s dawned, a building boom was well underway across England. It was not only confined to house building due to urban spread, and public works schemes to provide employment in a period of economic downturn. It included the building of village halls (many built as Memorials to the War Dead), and church-linked parochial halls.
Locally, St. Mary’s was not the only church exploring the building of a parochial hall in the first years of the 1930s. The CoE parishes of Batley All Saints and Birstall St. Peter’s were looking into it. Cleckheaton St. John’s CoE Church Hall opened in 1934. Wakefield St. Austin’s RC church added their parochial hall in 1930.
Other parishes, though, were not so enthusiastic. CofE vicar Canon Brown, of Dewsbury, declared in September 1934:
I do not think it is the business of the Church to build elaborate parochial halls where people can dance to the small hours of the morning and where they can spend their time in whist drives and bridge parties.
But St. Mary’s were firmly in the pro-hall camp. In May 1934 they announced the purchase of a large site of vacant land off Thomas Street. The plot, within a stones throw of the church, had formerly accommodated the joinery works of Messrs. Scott and Tetley. In 1932 that firm of wholesale cabinet makers became casualties of the Great Depression, with their 631 square yards of land containing easily-dismantled corrugated and asbestos buildings being auctioned off. Now cleared of these buildings, St. Mary’s earmarked this land for the site of their new Parochial Hall. The images below show the site before and after the building of the Parochial Hall.
Revised: 1931, Published: 1933, showing the Scott and Tetley joinery works – Re-use: CC-BY (NLS)
Revised: 1955, Published: 1956, showing St. Mary’s Parochial Hall – Re-use: CC-BY (NLS)
The St. Mary’s Parochial Committee, chaired initially by Patrick Colleran J.P., had oversight of the project, including fund-raising activities. It was something they were used to, having only recently raised some £2,000 for a school extension. Going back to the latter part of the 1920s the parish had also raised over £6,000 for a new presbytery and high altar, alongside work on the sanctuary, whilst clearing earlier church building debts.
Once more they swung into action, quickly setting the wheels in motion to meet the latest challenge. Sadly it was one Patrick Colleran did not live to see through to fruition. He died on 11 March 1935, with Mr. Edward Brennan holding the Chairmanship at point of completion.
The architect chosen was Mr. C. Fox from the Dewsbury firm of Messrs. Fox and Hill (incorporating Holtom and Fox). He was the architect responsible for the school extension of 1934, when the firm was Holtom and Fox,
By April 1935 construction was underway, and towards the end of September the shell of the building was already complete. Taking shape, it could be seen that the 30 yards long and hall would have a large stage. The upstairs rooms would accommodate the Catholic Young Men’s Club.
By November 1935, though still some weeks away from completion, the Catholic Young Men’s Club had already left their rooms on Wilton Street to hold their meetings in a small corner of the spacious new building. They would be doubly pleased to see the hall’s imminent opening, as typically the school hall was used for socials and it was their responsibility to stay behind afterwards to arrange desks and chairs for the next school day.
The hall was built chiefly of brick, with stone used in decorative work. The Young Men’s Club’s members furnished their upstairs rooms, which despite their size retained a feeling of coziness. This was the height of the art deco period and the decor typified it, with cream being the principal shade, set off with chromium fittings. Chrome plating exploded commercially from 1926, and it became a defining element of the Art Deco era, so in using it the Parochial Hall was at the height of modernity. There were upholstered seats and two billiards tables. Pictures perpetuated the memory of late members. These included ones of Father Lea, the club’s first President, and Messrs. Patrick Colleran J.P., L.Berry, J. Gavaghan, J. Cafferty, A.Cox J.P., J. W. Whitley, M. Prendergast, T. Murphy, W. Murphy, J. Buckley, P. Mara and J. Ryan. There was also a portrait of the current Parish Priest, Father McBride.
Turning to rest of the building which was described as “magnificent,” well polished doors with chromium handles and lights behind glass panels drew the eye. It also boasted commodious dressing rooms. The main hall, which could seat around 400, was described as one of the finest in town. There was an excellent dance floor, effectively and innovatively illuminated by lights fitted in the roof. The stage, measuring around 26 feet across, and 20 feet from back to front, with a frontage width of about 18 feet, was perfectly designed for concerts and operatic society productions. There was also a basement, which was intended to be used as a supper room.
The official opening was set for the evening of Sunday 12 January 1936. However the first event was held a couple of weeks or so earlier – a Grand Opening Dance on Boxing Day 1935. Featuring the New Mayfair Dance Band, it promised dancing till 1am. An advert for it is shown on the left.
Monsignor Hawkswell, Secretary to the Bishop of Leeds, was supposed to perform the official opening on 12 January 1936, but could not make it. Parish priest Father Peter McBride stepped in to do the honours, before 400 people, with St. Mary’s curate Father Denis O’Mahoney presiding over the ceremony. The event also included what was termed “a splendid concert” by the altar boys.
Among the guests were Dean P. McMenamin and Father Kennedy of St. Joseph’s, Batley Carr. On the platform were Parochial Committee members Messrs. T. Kelly, J. Lynch, P. Lynch, and J. Munns. Others named were Father McBride (President), Father O’Mahoney, Secretary James Harkin, and Treasurer Mr. William Dillon, along with Batley’s Catholic doctor Dr. William O’Neill, endorsed by Father McBride for his parishioners.
Father McBride was praised for his hard work for Batley’s Catholics, and his desire to make St. Mary’s one of the best parishes in the country. Fulsome tributes were also paid to the late Mr. Patrick Colleran J.P., the late Chairman of the Parochial Committee who was instrumental in driving the scheme through its crucial initial stages.
James Harkin, Secretary of the Parochial Committee and the Young Men’s Club summed it up by saying that his death had lessened the joy of the occasion. He recalled that when “Pat” Colleran first saw the plans for the hall he was as excited as if he was a businessman having new premises erected, or a householder having a new house built. He had been the pivot around which the work of providing the new hall had revolved.
Mr. Tom Egan, J.P., who expressed thanks to Father McBride, said the opening of the new hall was a fitting way to commence what he hoped would be a prosperous New Year. The overall cost for the hall was £4,000, and although the debt was not fully paid off in time for its opening, the hope was it would be quickly wiped out.
Tom Egan’s concluding hope, that the hall would be a great service to the community, has more than been fulfilled over the intervening years.
If anyone does have any photos, or memories, of the Parochial Hall – especially from its beginnings to up to around the 1960s – please do send them to me so I can include them.
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